A thermal printer may be defined as a printer that prints on paper or synthetic material by selectively melting selected portions of an ink coated ribbon so that the ink is adhered to the material on which it is applied. Thermal printers generally use a fixed width thermal print head, pressing onto the material to be printed as the material passes over a driven rubber roller, called a platen roller. The layered ribbon, also known as thermal transfer ribbon is sandwiched between the print head, the material to be printed, and the platen roller. A typical thermal ribbon is a very thin film, on the order of about one mil, and is comprised of several layers including a resin and/or wax layer containing a transfer ink, a release layer over the resin/wax layer, a carrier layer over the release layer, and a back coat over the carrier layer to provide a low-friction surface for engaging the print head. The thermal ribbon is spooled onto a reel and the thermal ribbon is driven through the printer synchronized with the material to be printed. As the material to be printed and the thermal ribbon are driven beneath the print head, tiny pixels across the width of the print head are heated to melt the ink off the thermal ribbon and onto the material to be printed.
Thermal printers are very useful when the life of the printed material is long or the printed material needs to survive in a harsh environment. Examples of thermal printer devices are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,439 (hereafter “'439”) issued in 1994 to Poole et al., for a “Thermal Transfer Printer With Controlled Ribbon Feed”; U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,135 issued in 1996 to Hevenor et al., for a “Method And Apparatus For Making A Graphic Product”; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,870 (hereafter “'870”) issued in 2000 to Monnier et al., for a “Ribbon Drive System For A Thermal Demand Printer.”
In regard to the thermal printers disclosed in the '439 and '870 patents, the loading or installing of the thin film thermal ribbon through the thermal printers is difficult and somewhat dangerous. No specialized apparatus is known to exist for the purpose of helping an operator install a fresh thermal ribbon supply.